In the primeval forest of Acadia (modern-day Nova Scotia) there is now nothing left of the village of Grand-Pré. The speaker mourns the passing of the village; all that remains, still "sung by the pines of the forest," is a great love story. The speaker begins to relate this tale.
At the time of the tale, the village is in a verdant valley filled with fields of flax. Everyone is equal and in harmony with one another. Evangeline, a lovely and beatific seventeen-year-old girl, lives with her father Benedict Bellefontaine. Many young men try to court her but she is engaged to Gabriel, her childhood friend and son of Benedict’s closest friend, Basil the Blacksmith.
One evening Basil and Gabriel come over to Benedict and Evangeline’s house. First Basil and Benedict discuss the worrying presence of English ships and cannons in the bay, but with the arrival of Father Leblanc, the notary, the mood shifts. The old man is there to marry the young lovers, which he does to the delight of all. Evangeline and Gabriel are blissfully happy and look forward to their life together.
The next day the entire village celebrates the couple's union. The celebration is interrupted, however, when English troops march in. The commander announces that all of the Acadian lands and dwellings are forfeited to the British crown and that the residents are to be exiled to a different province. The villagers are filled with despair, although Father Felician tries to comfort them.
Only a few days later all of the villagers proceed down to the shore with their possessions. People are haphazardly herded into boats and separated from their families. Evangeline and Gabriel embrace right before Gabriel and his father are put onto one boat.
While Evangeline and her father wait, the villagers notice smoke and flames coming from the direction of their village. They realize in horror that the English burned their homes. The shock of this is too much for Benedict, and he dies. Evangeline calls for him to be buried on the shore of his beloved land.
The Acadians are officially exiled, spread far and wide in the wild lands of North America. Evangeline travels with Father Felician and others down the Mississippi River. This band of travelers passes through dreamlike and mysterious lands of the northwest and the south, coming into the fertile bayous of Louisiana. Evangeline mourns for Gabriel; she has visions of him and pledges her fidelity and love for him for eternity.
Finally the travelers are fortunate enough to come across the residence of Basil, who had arrived earlier and set up a comfortable home. Basil welcomes everyone and tells Evangeline Gabriel had just left; the young man was so distraught over losing Evangeline that he needed to venture into the wilderness to assuage his troubled mind. Basil says that he will go with Evangeline to pursue his son, and that with luck they will find him. Before they depart, though, Basil tells the exiled Acadians about the opportunities and offerings of this new land and that they ought to embrace it.
Basil, Evangeline, and their guides depart, venturing into the West to find Gabriel. The land is tempestuous but beautiful. One evening an Indian woman eats with them and tells Evangeline spellbinding and spectral tales of lost love.
The travelers stop at a Jesuit Mission and the priest informs them Gabriel had passed through and plans to return in time. Evangeline decides to wait there for him, and Basil returns home.
Days, weeks, and seasons pass and Gabriel does not arrive. Evangeline sorrowfully returns home.
Now years pass and Evangeline grows old; she settles among the Quakers in Pennsylvania. She never ceased to keep her love for Gabriel alive in her heart, but devoted her days to ministering to the poor and sick. As a Sister of Mercy, she was particularly beloved during the horrible days of the plague. One day she stoops by a pallet and to her immense surprise, sees Gabriel lying before her, flush with fever and imminent death.
He has a vision of his love and tries to speak her name. She embraces him and he dies in her arms. She thanks God that her wanderings and tribulations are over.
The lovers are buried next to each other. They are forgotten as life for everyone else goes on. All that remains of the Acadians are a few descendants still living along the shores of the “mournful and misty” Atlantic.
